Ingredients
1/2 recipe Pizza Crust (page 198), divided in half
2 Italian sweet sausages
EVOO, for drizzling
1 cup fresh sheep’s or cow’s milk ricotta cheese
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
Salt and pepper
1/4 cup grated Romano cheese
4 to 6 very thin slices fior di latte or fresh mozzarella (see note)
Rich tomato sauce (see note)
Directions
Preheat the oven to 550°F with a pizza stone.
In a skillet, combine the sausages and about 1/4 inch of water and bring them to a boil. Drizzle in a little EVOO and cook the sausages through; as the water evaporates, the oil will crisp up the casings. Thinly slice the sausages.
For each calzone, roll out one ball of dough to a round about 6 inches in diameter. Arrange 1 sliced sausage in the calzone, top it with the ricotta and sprinkle with the thyme, salt and pepper, and a tiny drizzle of EVOO. Sprinkle with the Romano and top with the fior di latte. Fold the dough over into a half-moon and press the edges together to seal. Dot the top of the calzones with a little of the tomato sauce and bake them on the preheated pizza stone until it is browned and bubbled at the edges and nice and crisp on the bottom and on the top.
Note: For the calzones and pizzas, I used about 2 cups of the Slow-Cooked Sunday Sauce (recipe follows) that I was making for pasta, but you could use any really thick, rich tomato-based sauce. Or use one of my pizza sauces, like Blender Pizza Sauce (page 198) or Homemade Marinara (page 198). I also melted 1 tablespoon butter into the tomato sauce to enrich it.
